Gianni and I have been packing boxes and taking loads of stuff to storage the past few days in preparations for our move. Tomorrow we get to go pick up the keys to our new place. Today will be my last blogg for a little while since our DSL will not be up at the new place till about Sept 6th.

I've just packed up three 50 gallon garbage bags of clothes and shoes that I'll be taking to Good Will tonight. I would have had a Garage $ale, but it's kind of hard to have one in the parking lot of a gated Apartment Community. We are downsizing quite a bit this move and I am getting rid of anything I have not worn in over 9 months. The last time I did this I got rid of all of my "skinny" clothes and then had to turn around and by all news clothes 9 months later when I dropped 30 pounds. Hope this means a repeat of the weight loss. ;-)

Our new apartment has full size washer and dryer hook ups so we are finally going to get to use the washer and dryer my Dad gave us last year. Thanks again Dad!! Our new place isn't much smaller than our current apartment, we just got a really good deal on the new place and couldn't pass the opportunity up.

I've still got a ton of stuff to finish up for the move. Guess I'll post again next week after we get every thing set up. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Labor Day!!

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Happy Birthday Courtney!!! You're a WONDERFUL Sister and I hope you had a fantastic day.

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Wow!! Things at work are going VERY well, every day is full of new lessons and experiences. I'm progressing very quickly and should officially be out of training in about 2 months. The entire staff have been absolutely wonderful to work with!! Even though I'm working for a LOT less money than I was making in the corporate world, I'm glad a made the change. I've been happier in the past two weeks than I have been at any job in a few years. And I am really working my ass off...literally, I've already lost 5 pounds.

The environment is one of constant communication and teamwork. It's so nice to have all of the information you need to complete your job right at your fingertips. I don't have to worry about not getting the whole story. I don't have to worry about mistrusting and paranoid company "leaders". I don't have to worry with the BS of corporate life that I worried with for the past 3 years. Dare I say it, I actually don't have anything to bitch about. :-)

Now I get to play with Puppies and Kitties all day. What's not to love???

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Gianni and I are hard at work preparing to move next weekend. Yes, that's right, we get to spend Labor Day Weekend MOVING...how fun!!! (yes, I’m rolling my eyes)

It probably won't be all that bad, in reality we are only moving a few blocks away, it's just that moving is such a major pain in the buttskie. Right now were getting a jump on things by packing and hauling a bunch of stuff off to storage.

We got a great deal on an apartment and I discovered a cool service called Move For Free.com. You register and do your apartment search through them and when you move, they give you a truck and moving guys for 2 hours…FOR FREE. There are certain things that they will not move for free, but you have the option to pay for those extra items to be moved if you like or you can move them yourself like.

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Now for the sad part of my new job, I've experienced the first loss of a patient. Last week a client brought in a dog that was experiencing major liver problems, the dog was a Black Lab, but it was literally turning yellow. Yellow eyes, yellow blotches on the skin under its coat and even a yellow tint to its tongue. I assisted with the initial exam and later that day with the sonogram. The Dr's wanted to see what was causing the problem, they knew by the "yellow" coloring that it was more than likely liver related, but they needed to run some tests in order to figure out what was going on.

An exploratory surgery was scheduled for the following day to get a good look at the liver. I was helping in Surgery the next morning and had an interest in the procedure but they didn’t start until later that afternoon after I had already gone home. I asked the very next morning how things went and was told that the procedure went exceptionally well, but that the dog only had a few months. The dog’s liver was in extremely bad shape, it had a bunch of tumors and the prognosis was not good for the animal. Yesterday I found out that the dog passed away sometime during the weekend. I had gotten very close to the animal over the course of last week, spending a lot of time assisting the Dr’s during exams and helping with procedures. She was such a good dog and her owners will miss her dearly. I will miss her as well. She was a very special dog.

When I told my family that I wanted to go back to school and get my degree, my Dad asked me how I would handle the loss of a patient. I told him, it was a part of life and a part of my job. It affects the entire staff at our hospital when we hear that one of our patient’s dies. Everyone cares so much for these animals that we ALL get attached. We just have to be thankful for the time we have with our pets and be happy that they are not in pain anymore.

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Thank you for the roses and thank you for making the past five years of my life worth living. I LOVE YOU!!

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WOW!!! What an incredible week it's been. It's only my first week of working at the Animal Hospital, and already I've learned and experienced so much.

1. How to properly restrain an animal for their safety and yours.

2. Big dogs drool, A LOT!!

3. Shots are much easier to give a cat after it's been sedated.

4. A Spay takes about 45 minutes to perform. A Neuter takes closer to 15.

5. I'm really happy I decided to take a leap of faith and pursue Veterinary Medicine.

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I’ve been standing at a crossroads for quite sometime now, afraid to move in one direction or the other. Afraid to take one step forward without having to take several big steps back. Afraid that I would never be able to move at all, becoming stagnant.

About a month ago I decided to take a few steps back in order to make one giant leap forward. I decided it was time for a complete career change. Just like many of you working in the Tech Industry, the past three years for me have not been much fun. Lay-offs, dead end jobs and finally ending up taking anything you can just to pay the bills.

Gianni and I have been riding the “dotcom” roller coaster for a while now and I’ve decided that I WANT OFF. I started re-evaluating what I wanted out of life and what makes me truly happy. I did a lot of soul searching and had long talks with several of my closest friends. I decided I wanted to go back to school and get a degree, but a degree in what?

After several weeks of scanning the job boards and talking with family and friends, it hit me…I want to be a Registered Vet Technician (Vet Nurse). I wanted to be a Vet when I was young and some how, I just lost sight of that dream. I’ve always loved animals and I knew that I wanted a career where I’d feel like I was really helping someone. Besides, animals are very therapeutic and after the last 10 months of my life, I could definitely use a little therapy.

I’m not going to go into ALL of the details, but I am going to say that I feel better today than I have in over a year. The decision to make a career change has given me back some of the joy in my life that I have given up this past year. It’s strange how the idea of a new beginning can change your whole attitude. It’s silly, but on my way home from my last day of “corporate life”, I actually shed a small tear of joy and relief that I had made it through the last several months alive.

It was really difficult trying to keep it together some days and I've been told I did a great job of not showing what was really going on. My insides were all torn up, but at least I had a smile on my face. I mean, that's what really matters...isn't it?

I’ve kept away from my blog out of fear for quite sometime now. That fear is now lifted and I look forward to sharing my new experiences with my friends again as I head down a new road in my life. I start my new job Monday at a local Animal Hospital. I’m very excited and I’m ready to get started with the next phase of my life.

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T minus 5 days and counting....I can feel my excitement growing.

I'm ready to embark on a new journey that is so long over due. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

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Hmmmm...this was weird...apparently I'm Left-brained. I always fancied myself more of a Right-brainer.

Here are my results. Go take the test yourself and see if you're surprised by the outcome.
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Most left-brained people like you feel at ease in situations requiring verbal ability, attention to detail, and linear, analytical ability. Whether you know it or not, you are a much stronger written communicator than many, able to get your ideas across better than others.

It's also likely that you are methodical and efficient at many things that you do. You could also be good at math, particularly algebra, which is based on very strict rules that make sense to your logical mind. (that's a joke, I personally hate MATH)

How do we know all this? How do we know that you are detailed-oriented and probably notice what people are wearing when they walk into a room?

Because while you were taking this test, we measured your responses to each test question and analyzed how your brain naturally reacts when it's presented with various types of information.

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Excellent!! If you enjoy all things Ancient, like I do, you'll want to check out "Roman Empire in the First Century" tonight on PBS.

The web site is pretty cool too.

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